# The most famous scientific experiments in history

From the Leaning Tower of Pisa to Foucault's pendulum, from Galvani's frogs to the double slit: the experiments that changed how we understand the world. Which was the most brilliant?

- 20 votes · 13 items
- Jul 18, 2025 · silvia_roma
- https://even.best/en/l/2406/the-most-famous-scientific-experiments-in-history

## Top 13

1. **Galileo's falling bodies** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — The inclined plane and the legend of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
2. **Newton's apple** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — The idea of universal gravitation.
3. **Pasteur's experiments** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — The swan-neck flask that disproved spontaneous generation.
4. **Young's double slit** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — In 1801 light behaved like a wave.
5. **The Cavendish experiment** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — In 1798 it "weighed" the Earth.
6. **Newton's prism** (1 · ▲2 ▼1) — White light split into the colours of the rainbow.
7. **The Miller-Urey experiment** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — In 1953 it made amino acids in a "primordial soup".
8. **Galvani's frogs** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — The legs that twitched with electricity.
9. **Franklin's kite** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — It showed that lightning is electricity.
10. **The structure of DNA** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Watson and Crick and the double helix, in 1953.
11. **Millikan's oil drop** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — It measured the charge of the electron.
12. **Pavlov's dogs** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Conditioned reflexes: drooling at the sound of a signal.
13. **Foucault's pendulum** (-1 · ▲0 ▼1) — In 1851 it showed the Earth's rotation at the Panthéon in Paris.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.